Sikh sites hit with epithets, swastikas

Vandals this week sprayed several swastikas and racial epithets on property that includes a Sikh temple at the northeast corner of Armstrong Road and West Lane.

Yasmin Assemi

LODI -- Vandals this week sprayed several swastikas and racial epithets on property that includes a Sikh temple at the northeast corner of Armstrong Road and West Lane.

The crime could be linked to one of the dozen or so white supremacist groups in the county, authorities said Thursday.

Deputies initially received a report about the incident on Tuesday and investigated the site Thursday.

Nirmal Samra owns the 8.6-acre property and said he noticed the graffiti on his produce stand and a big-rig trailer Monday morning. The vandalism included remarks such as "killers" and "white power" along with other racial epithets directed at Muslims of Middle Eastern origin.

Sikhs are Indian.

"We know what kind of signs these are," Samra said. "Racist signs."

Samra, a grape farmer, has never before experienced prejudice in his 30 years living in Lodi, he said.

"This is a nice area, you know," he said, staring at the defiled trailer.

But many have mistaken Sikhs for Muslims because they wear turbans, Samra said. The fear of such misdirected hate inspired the Sikh community in 2001 to increase its participation in many community events in hopes of educating the public about the two different religions.

Hate crimes targeting American Sikhs spiked shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a report released in July by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

But reported crimes against people of Middle Eastern descent dropped 35 percent in California from 2003 to 2004, according to the report, "Hate Crime in California 2004." The study looked at crimes based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or physical or mental disability.

There were 17 reported incidents of hate crimes and 22 victims from 2003 to 2004 in San Joaquin County, according to the report.

According to Detective Rex Yturri, deputies have responded to scattered incidents of swastika graffiti this year, but none recently on this scale. Most gangs leave their identification in their graffiti. The graffiti on the Sikh property contained no such marks, he said.

"I'm really, really upset, and I have my sympathies for the Sikh community," said Taj Khan, a member of the Breakthrough Project's board of directors, after hearing about the incident on Thursday.

Khan, a Pakistani Muslim, said he and other Breakthrough Project members will visit the site today and extend their support to the Sikh community. The Breakthrough Project was created to promote unity and diversity and fight hate crimes in the Lodi area after a cross-burning at Tokay High School in 1998.

Tuesday's incident occurred just months after a Lodi father and son were indicted in June for lying about the son's suspected links to terrorists. Two Lodi imams, or Islamic spiritual leaders, were swept up in the probe for suspected immigration violations. The imams have since been deported.

In May, a San Joaquin Delta College student discovered a copy of the Quran, the most revered book in Islam, in a library toilet.

"It's wrong, and it makes me angry personally that this kind of thing is going on," said David Hill, president of the Breakthrough Project and pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Lodi. "It's evil, as far as I'm concerned."

Samra said he and others plan to remove the graffiti soon.

"We need to be together in fighting the hate crimes," Khan said. "We stand with the rest of the community together to fight these kind of incidences."

The San Joaquin County Planning Commission on Dec. 16 approved plans to build a bigger Sikh temple on the vandalized property. Community residents applied for a building permit for the 5.5-acre temple site on June 24. The permit is still pending.